E-Tigress Journal

3 weeks

2008-08-18T07:12:06Z

We have a less than 3 1/2 weeks left in Oklahoma, I don't think I'm going to make my self imposed deadlines for completing my commissions before we leave. We've just got too much to do in the coming weeks.

Day

2008-08-17T05:07:52Z

I started out feeling pretty anxious and VERY upset because our original plans for today fell apart very quickly. My gouache+pencil drawing for his dad was not as much of a success I had imagined. Then while I was stressing myself into a mild fit Kifall gave me the longest, best hug ever until I calmed down and collected myself again.

I'm so glad for him.

I met my My Father-in-Law today and gave him the drawing first thing. He LOVES the drawing, that was such a relief! I was so upset as to how it was turning out, and the fact that it looks better at an angle than head on, also that my scanner REFUSED to retain a good copy of it that didn't look stretched(still looks stretched on screen) With horrid colors. The colors aren't AS bad as they were before on-screen, but I wish you guys could see it as it really is. The scan: http://eboness.critter.net/WIP/SVizsla08.jpg
No matter what I did to attempt to color-correct it, it just could not pick up the colors I used.

I may see if I can take a picture of my father in law with it. I should have done that today, but I completely forgot to take any, aside from some Prairie dogs we were enthralled about that had set up shop in the grass outside the Ramada he is staying at.

Kifall's dad is such a nature person, that is awesome awesome, we get along great and I'm so glad to have finally met him. Today we went to go see Tropic Thunder, which was a pretty funny movie. We should be going for breakfast tomorrow with him.

I had a little bit to drink tonight so I am actually pretty tired right now. Peach Lambic beer, I might have some more though, just to get myself back to that state of sleepy I was in earlier, when I fell asleep on Kifall while he was watching T.V.

Also, R.I.P. to tasharga's grandmother

Pencils crutch

2008-08-15T21:56:09Z

I was going to be so happy with myself if I could pull of painting the entire way through.

Unfortunately my choice of base medium has made it impossible to continue on without using my pencils. At first I was thinking "I don't want to fall back on my colored pencils as a crutch"

then I realized that working in my sketchbook is a big hindrance to that, and despite my former belief, all of my detailed color work in my sketchbook has pencil+gouache. :(

So, maybe I need to switch to Bristol or some other very heavy paper if I want to experiment with using my gouache to its fullest potential.

anyhow, back to work, I'm done staring at this and thinking of how great it -could- be if I hadn't (insert anything here) beforehand.

Success!

2008-08-15T15:26:27Z

I am owning this pet portrait right now. It isn't perfect, but YES it is better than it was before and good enough to color!

I am going to attempt to bust out a painting in the next few hours, hopefully I can do it!

I've circled back to the pet portrait I started for my father-in-law. Dislike for my original sketch kept me from slapping color on it, but now I think my linework is good enough to progress further on. I want to make it good and I want to make it in a timely fashion so I can get back to commission work asap. Though I know this weekend is out of the question, since we will be soaking up family time while he is here. It will be nice to finally get to meet him o____o

This would be a great time to have markers X) They are so much faster to work in, and look pretty sharp too.

Good Hair News

2008-08-15T04:42:03Z

I went back to the salon and just showed the manager who was the stylist that did my hair, she recommended some different products for me, and did some extra moisturizing/ conditioning rinse while I was there.

The new product is making my hair feel nicer overall, and hopefully after a few days it will be feeling pretty good all over. It is still limp on the right side, but she gave me her card with the hours she will be working. She told me "I'm not going to charge you to roller-set your hair again in those spots, you already paid for it." She said I could come in on Saturday the earliest or sometime next week to have it roller-set on the right side and some on the left so that I can have uniform curls.

That woman does some good business, I'm glad she could see I was having problems and unhappy with the results. Since we won't have time to do anything this weekend, I think I will go in on Tuesday.

:(

2008-08-14T18:21:29Z

Well, once my hair fully dries even after I've put moisturizers in it, it looks awful. It is hard and crispy in most parts.

Moreso on the right side than the left, I think that is because the stylist was on my right side when she was applying the relaxer. My right side is shapeless and crispy, the left looks a little better. The only portion of my hair that came out right was the hair on the rear left between my ear and nape, there's a line of hair that looks like my entire head should look.

I don't think I'm going to go to a salon and get my hair done again, it looks so bad, and I coughed up too much money for that. This isn't the first time either. I think it is mainly because my hair is so thick and coarse that people think I need to spend more time with chemicals in my hair.

That just ruins it.

The best beautician I had, took the least amount of time doing my hair, I could expect to be there for 2 hours total, maybe a little less while she did the soft curl/neauvo wave on it. That was in OKC though. I had another there that did it pretty well too.

This is upsetting me so much, and I know it is too damaged and now I'm going to have to wait until my hair grows out again.

I think I'm going to shave it when we get to Hawaii and start new again.

I think most of my feelings of blah are from going to that lame dinner with Kifall's coworkers. I look so drab right now. Oh and we were supposed to be taking photos this weekend with my family, and it will be my first time meeting my father-in-law who is flying in tomorrow.

Self-portrait Sphinx Complete (NSFW-Nude)

2008-08-13T08:03:48Z

I still have one little thing I will tweak before uploading to various galleries, otherwise, this is done.

sketch colored in Paintshop Pro 9

New Hair

2008-08-12T22:42:54Z

http://eboness.critter.net/WIP/NewHairAugust08.jpg

Well, my hair WAS really long compared to how it looked before, it was a little over 6 inches in the back ... but the ends didn't take to what the sylist was doing so she decided to cut most of it.

4 hours in the salon and I have a hungry headache. Kifall and I are going out for dinner.

TV HAPPINESS:Fangstasia

2008-08-12T02:50:13Z

My Current Favorite Book Series is being made into a HBO TV SHOW :D :D :D It has Vampires, Shapeshifters(One is a TIGER-SEXY!!), Werewolves and Faeries :D :D LOVE Charlaine Harris's Southern Vampire Novels <3 I REALLY hope they eventually bring the tiger into the show, they should find a super hot guy to play him, because the character is in the books MMMmmmhmmm.

I'm already happy with their depiction of Eric Northman. Their fangs make me sad though D: ew, going ti have to ignore that, I won't let that keep me from watching the show.

trueblood_tv

Dead Until Dark.

Debt Consolidation

2008-08-11T17:37:54Z

Okay, I called the debt consolidation folks again. I had orignally planned to go with working through them months ago, but Capital One Guy told me that it wouldn't help me since they were making such a small payment to them AND taking money from me. So I didn't and look where that has gotten me :D ... nowhere. So I'd rather be nowhere with someone behind me that can talk them out of pursuing legal action against me, instead of nowhere by myself. :|

I don't want to have "failure to appear in court" against me because I am about to live in Oahu and I was supposed to be in Oklahoma, oops I can't afford to come back to OK to go to court over MONEY I can't afford :D.

basically the Care One debt consolidation folks said that UNLESS the debt collectors have already issued me paperwork stating that they are seeking legal action against me, they haven't done it yet, so I still have time to work with them.

So, we'll see how this goes.

WIP Self-portrait Sphinx- NSFW -boobs

2008-08-11T05:41:17Z

I've gone from this: http://eboness.critter.net/WIP/WingEditSphinx082.jpg

to this: http://eboness.critter.net/WIP/WingEditSphinx083.jpg

and now this: http://eboness.critter.net/WIP/WingEditSphinx084.jpg

I think this little project is good for me right now. I think a few more hours on this and I'll be finished, there are still some things I want to tweak before coloring the accessories. I couldn't remember I'd drawn my tigress-wings in the past, so I had to pull up some of my old drawings for reference, then I decided to make them similar and maybe merge the two ideas I'd had at some point.

I'm tired right now though, so I'm off to bed.

DEBT :(

2008-08-07T21:10:31Z

Well I made the mistake of talking to one of the credit card folks to see what I need to do to keep making my payments once I am without residence. SO, she effectively ruined my life for the time being.. Oh wait let me rephrase that. I'm letting her ruin my life for the time being. I shouldn't have called her at all. Silly me trying to be responsible.

Apparently my little $100/m payments are only paying for $10 a month since the rest is all interest.

SO.

I have to be able to pay *looks* 4378.94 before I leave for Hawaii, or somehow en route to Hawaii :D Gold. She said that if I can't pay at least 3,378 (settled) when she calls me, then I will have to go to court because they can't accept such small payments from me. BUT I am paying the most I can to them right now. So my debt has stayed pretty much roughly the same since I began trying to pay them off.

Oh and Court would also be in Oklahoma, so any summons I would receive would be for Oklahoma.

Oh this was all assuming I even had the same account to send payments through, which I won't. I need to switch to a bank local to Hawaii and so far it looks like Oahu, just like Lawton doesn't have a CHASE bank.

Oh, and my -actual- debt was $460, which was a crapload of money to me at that time(2003-2005, oh gee that was when I was at OCCC. huh.) Everything else is interest. I couldn't pay them then, I can in the tinniest bit now, but it doesn't make a difference.

I wonder if I had gone with the debt consolidation that STILL wouldn't pay off either of my cards (the other one has a much smaller debt) in any shade of a reasonable time, would they still be telling me this? Should I try consolidating again?

Does anyone else have a ridiculous credit card they haven't used in 4 years happily racking up interest? Or have you? What do you do? What do I do?

ebonytigress @ 2008-08-07T01:54:00

2008-08-07T06:51:13Z

I have this terrible thing that happens, when I get terribly happy it just sort of morphs into..sadness x____x I think my happy is busted.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZDd4LD3AM4

I watched this video a bunch and then I got that overwhelming paranoia about "what if I lose him?"

And that knocks me down level again, I couldn't imagine my life without him in it. :\

great. I made myself cry. :( I'm going to bed.

SCREAMS WITH GLEE

2008-08-07T04:19:06Z

Bonez/CandyJack/Cannibal_Clinik just sent me my commission and I am BLOWN AWAY with how absolutely fantastic this is!!

Click for full view, it is so awesome :D.

I gushed a lot to her over e-mail, extra thanks to istences because without his support in advancing me to color one of my other bits of art... I would still be waiting for a time to be able to pay her and gaze upon the awesomeness that she created!!!

I so want to make out with Kifall RIGHT NOW but he is sleeping :( *hearts* he hasn't seen this yet, I can't wait to show him! I love what she came up with, I could have never imagined anything that awesome :)

WIP (NSFW-boobs)

2008-08-06T22:45:37Z

http://eboness.critter.net/WIP/WingEditSphinx083.jpg

So this is my little self-portrait project I've embarked on, with dinner in our little household completed, I'm going back to work on this :3. I decided I won't try making any highlights until I am further along, it should look better after that, but I still have a whole body and wings to work on. The face is coming along, but I still have a few things to tweak.

Water Is back

2008-08-06T14:33:23Z

Okay, the water has been working since about 5PM yesterday, it is still doing that nasty sputtering thing occasionally, like when it was first back on again. So hopefully that eases up soon.

I'm feeling better than I had been the last 5 days, so I'm resuming my art-work again.

Today

2008-08-05T15:56:36Z

My buddy tasharga has been having such a rough time lately :(
I hope wolf_wanderer comes back okay from Iraq :(.

I am so happy we won't have to deal with these Apartments anymore after September 9th.

AUGH I HATE THIS APARTMENT COMPLEX MOST OF THE TIME!!!!!!!

I'm so angry right now, The water is cut off AGAIN, this time it isn't in the middle of the day but it's been off since at LEAST 8:30AM this morning. I WANT TO TAKE A SHOWER. I NEED TO WASH MY HANDS.

AUGH!!!!!!!!! And of course they aren't picking up the phone in the office, and I'm sure 200 other people have called to complain and left messages, because I CAN'T LEAVE ONE since it is FULL.

I want to tear something up, I am so cranky right now. And I keep forgetting that the water is cut off right now and re-anger myself at the brand new discovery of NO WATER.

HATE HATE HATE. I want to brush my teeth!!! *angryface*

Opinions Please

2008-08-02T16:49:18Z

Okay, I had someone point out that I drew my last image as a Mirror image. I didn't do that on purpose though so that kind of bothers me :(

BUT, mirroring my already mirror image changes the feel of the drawing altogether in my opinion.

Here is what I had drawn originally:

In this version -I- get the feeling that I am wondering what or who he is stalking, and don't really look into the trees at all.

http://eboness.critter.net/NewArt/2008/Animals/Commission/KostiaTiger08Mirror.jpg

But If I flip everything around:

http://eboness.critter.net/NewArt/2008/Animals/Commission/KostiaTiger08.jpg

I feel like the viewer is now -with- the Tiger, and I don't care so much that he may or may not be aiming the rifle, he looks more like he is on the move than on the hunt, and I am drawn more towards looking into the trees.

The only problem with this is that now his Beret is drawn wrong and if I keep this version I will need to change that accordingly.

What do you think?

EDIT: oh and my husband just informed that the symbol on the beret needs to go over one eye, while the beret itself needs to be over one eye as well. I don't know how the Russian military does that, so if anyone has any answers, that would be greatly appreciated!

Tiger Preview

2008-08-02T02:18:40Z

The full version of this is still a WIP currently, I just decided to stop and make an icon for the commissioner and offer a detail of what it is really looking like, since by the time I size it down more than this you can't see his eyes so well :3.

That is sized down as well though, I'm working on this at 600DPI, which is honestly the highest resolution I've ever tried working on anything, so it has been kicking my butt.

I'm working on coloring this sketch in Paintshop Pro 9.

I was going to be done real soon, but Kifall distracted me and then we went out to dinner :9, so art-time resumes... now!

EDIT: I have completed it, click the image above for the completed image.

Epic digital coloring is ALMOST DONE.

2008-08-01T20:44:08Z

omg, YES. I just have a glock to color and I am FINISHED. Or as finished as I will let this be. I'm never spending this time on anything ever again.*

*okay that is a total lie. I will be doing it again as soon as I forget how much I gnashed my teeth over the duration of this one. ... or I just feel like throwing myself into something for a long time again, and then regret it... sort of.

I must learn to paint/digital paint better and /faster/.

I actually know why this one took me so long, since I changed the entire background about 3 times before I settled on something that I felt I could work with.

Tigers are love.

ebonytigress @ 2008-08-01T04:34:00

2008-08-01T09:28:47Z

It sounds like Kifall is about to wake up for PT since 2 of his alarms have gone off. I haven't gone to sleep yet, I tried earlier but it wasn't working so well for me, so I went back to working on my epic coloring in PSP 9.

I'm still not done, and I think I will take another crack at going to sleep in a little bit.

animecat In Need Donation Commission

2008-07-24T17:00:55Z

http://animecat.livejournal.com/206054.html

Please click the link above, she and her family need help laying her brother to rest :\

I don't have any money, BUT I have two hands that can work for some.

I will do a commission for my donation to the Spradling family.

for $20 - 1 subject sketch,

for $30- 2 subject sketch or 1 subject detailed sketch

for $40 - 1 subject digital color, non-detailed (white background)

for $50- 2 characters detailed sketch, minimal background

for $60- 2 subjects digital color, non-detailed (no background/color wash)

I can open one slot for this (sorry, I'd do more if I weren't also doing commissions for our upcoming move.)

1.rikkanis_lynol Thank You!

I'd like to contribute -something- :\ Please reply or send me a message through LJ if interested.

If you do this on my behalf, you could potentially get a little something from animecat herself as well as a commission from me for donating.

Help a Sanctuary at no cost!

2008-07-22T05:46:08Z

Message from Pardus who volunteers and takes care of plenty of the animals at Safaris Sanctuary:

"just wanted to ask everyone who uses a search site to use
www.goodsearch.com. You can type in safaris in the box asking who you
are searching for and we get 1 penny for every search....and it cost
you NOTHING!!!!!!!!!!! Last year we raised 184.00 but this year I
would like to exceed that. Every penny counts as our costs to continue
increases.

Thanks in advance!!!!!!!!

Pardus"

Could any of you do this? It only takes a few seconds to do. They really could use the funds to help feed their critters. Oh, and feel free to share! I know some of you have been to Safaris and seen what a great job they are doing rescuing the wild ones.

Thanks :)

Why So Serious?

2008-07-21T17:42:43Z

http://www.whysoserious.com/

Have you guys checked this website out? it is quite interesting.

I believe in Harvey Dent.

That made me giggle.

This was part of the promotional material for The Dark Knight, I'm just browsing through it right now.

BATMAN :D :D :D

2008-07-20T20:26:02Z

Okay, We saw The Dark Knight yesterday with Sean, Brett, Sherrya, Amber, Prime, Jezza, Kodi and Jared.

It was Incredible!! We sat at the very front though :(, surprisingly we STILL LOVED IT even craning our necks up at the screen and trying to follow along.

Chris and I will be seeing it again sometime this week :3 What an AWESOME movie.

Go see it! I know I will try and see it as much as I can afford to XD, Even though the movie was long it didn't -feel- like it was, and it probably could have gone on even longer without complaint from me for sure.

Heath Ledger did an incredible job as The Joker. R.I.P.